Minor and Danielson at the 2008
groundbreaking.FILE PHOTO BY JAY
KUHLMANN

Three years after ground was broken and two years after lawsuits
began flying, the towering skeleton of the planned Landmark hotel
crept one inch closer to completion Wednesday, January 19, when a
Georgia judge ruled against Halsey Minor on all counts in
litigation between him and his lender.

"It was game, set, and match in favor of the
bank," says Connor Crook, attorney for another party in the morass,
a company controlled by Lee Danielson, developer of the 101-room
luxury lodging. "All claims are now resolved between those parties,
pending any appeal."

Appeal indeed, says Halsey Minor, a tech
industry titan with a knack for waging litigation long after the
first gavel has fallen.

"The decision was a travesty of justice,"
Minor says in an email, "and will be reversed."

James Byrd Gunn had been terrified about going to jail because of his health problems, say friends.

jail photo by Hawes Spencer; mugshot by jail

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It had been over 40 years since Jimmy Gunn had been behind bars,
and he was terrified of going back. He began telling friends that
it wasn't fair that a 60-year-old with myriad health problems
couldn't serve his 30-day marijuana sentence on house arrest. He
even called the Hook to complain about what America's war
on drugs was doing to him. And six days after entering the
Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, he was dead.

But a marijuana sales conviction last fall
coupled with a 1969 possession conviction may have given
authorities little option.

Gunn had a history of poor health. He was
bipolar, took medication for panic attacks, and relied on an
inhaler to treat his emphysema, according to friends and
family.

Still, to his friend Teague Herren, Gunn
seemed healthy enough when Herren drove Gunn to court on December
9. They were hoping the judge would consider a motion for home
electronic monitoring and a restricted driver's license. Instead,
Gunn was taken to jail.

"I dropped him off at court, and a week later
he's dead," says Herren, "for a pot charge."

Gunn was an artisan carpenter whose work
graced the home of the late Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi
Moore. But after a bout of cancer, Gunn had relied on disability
insurance, and friends...

For
months, Brown (inset) has been asserting that dredging won't supply
enough water. Huja and Szakos now officially agree.FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

In September, Charlottesville City Council took a stand
in favor of dredging to create more local water supply. But on
Tuesday, January 18, the same day that one Albemarle Supervisor
alleged that dredging might unleash potentially damaging fumes,
City Council took a vote that appears to give Albemarle County and
the Nature Conservancy what they want: a mega-reservoir to focus
the local water supply in a massive lake that would hug Interstate
64.

Talking about the sacrifices made by previous
generations, City Councilor Satyendra Huja–- long the issue's
...

For former billionaire's wife Patricia Kluge, the auctions, the
lawsuits, and the loss of the winery bearing her name combined to
make 2010 seem to be a very bad year, an annus
horribilis as the Queen of England once quipped. Unfortunately
for Kluge, 2011 may be worse.

Last year, Kluge put her jewelry,
furnishings, and even her clothes up for auction in a bid to stave
off creditors. Yet in December, she and her husband, a one-time
state wine leader, lost their 960-acre winery to foreclosure,
crushing the couple’s dream of bringing high-quality Virginia wine
to the national market.

Now, another auction looms. Albemarle House,
the mansion where Patricia Kluge once entertained kings, princes,
and U.S. presidents in haute grandeur, has been foreclosed
upon.

"That house was built at a time when an
inkling of that style existed," says architect Dav...

news-biscuit-craig-smBiscuit run investor Hunter Craig and DMB violinist Boyd Tinsley joined Governor Tim Kaine a year ago at the Monticello Visitor's Center to celebrate the state's purchase.

file photo by courteney stuart

Recently disclosed details of the Biscuit Run state park deal
have prompted more than public outrage–- they may have prompted an
investigation into the transaction that some allege was a
government bailout of wealthy investors at taxpayers' expense.

"I can tell you and therefore reassure the
public that the Biscuit Run matter is being reviewed by appropriate
parties," writes Brian Gottstein, spokesperson for Attorney General
Ken Cuccinelli, in an email. "I cannot say any more than that
without potentially compromising an investigation."

As reported in the Hook's
January 6 cover story, "Bad Men? New numbers show spiraling
costs of Biscuit Run," the owners sold the 1,200-acre property to
the state for $9.8 million in December 2009. Several months later,
the Virginia Department of Taxation issued $11.7 million in tax
credits, more than doubling the price. The former owners–- who
include developer Hunter Craig and music mogul Coran Capshaw–- have
appealed to the state to issue millions more.

Meanwhile, the new governor–- a Republican
who
initially endorsed the deal–- now appears to be distancing
himself from something arranged by his predecessor, Tim Kaine, who
heads the D...